Attack leaves 12 dead at research centre

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Islamist militants stormed a provincial government complex for agricultural research in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing 12 people including students and wounding 35 others, police and rescue officials said.

Police and military troops killed three attackers during a firefight and while clearing the complex in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, they said.

The main Taliban militant group, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility, saying the place they attacked was housing a secret intelligence office.

Police chief Salahuddin Mahsud of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said attackers opened fire on the main gate of a provincial agricultural department complex, initially wounding two guards and two students.

Mahsud said three attackers clad in women’s burqas then reached the gate in a rickshaw and opened fire to clear their way to the building. The ensuing firefight left 12 dead and dozens more injured.

Mahsud told reporters after the complex was cleared that among the dead, six were students and one was a guard. Six others were being identified.

Mahsud said before the attackers could reach other hostels, security forces were able to evacuate residents in armoured vehicles.

“Police and military troops engaged in a quick and well-co-ordinated firefight and evacuation efforts saved scores of lives, otherwise the death toll could have been much higher,” he said.

TV footage showed bullet holes in walls, blood stains and broken glass scattered on the floor.

A comparatively small number of students and others were present in the typically crowded complex at the time of the attack because Friday is a holiday — the day when Muslims celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.

Officials refuted the militants’ claim that the agriculture directorate was housing any intelligence office. They said militants have attacked education institutions in the past.

Pervez Khattak, chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, expressed grief over the deaths.

“These terrorists have no religion as they attacked on a day which is very sacred and the nation was celebrating it,” he said.

ABDUL MAJEED/GETTY IMAGES Volunteers carry an injured student from an agriculture training institute after an attack by Taliban militants in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Friday.